911 call from DaBaby’s house: Person shot was trespassing, caller says
In a nearly six-minute 911 call from Charlotte rapper DaBaby’s home on Wednesday night, an unidentified person tells dispatch they shot a trespasser.
“I shot him in his leg,” the unidentified 911 caller says as a person can be heard wailing in the background. “He’s trespassing on my property.”
The call led Troutman Police officers to the home on Stillwater Road around 7:45 p.m. There, officers found a person with a gunshot wound to their “lower extremities” that was not life-threatening, Chief Josh Watson said.
DaBaby, whose name is Jonathan Kirk, and another unidentified person were home at the time of the shooting, Watson said. Police said the shooting is an isolated incident that there wasn’t any threat to the community.
The identity of the person who was shot has not been made public. The 911 caller told the dispatcher that a trespasser was “neutralized” and that he’d given the injured person something to put pressure on the gunshot wound.
It wasn’t clear Friday morning whether DaBaby was the person who fired the gun.
Around noon, DaBaby posted a clip on his Instagram from the 2002 film “Paid in Full,” and the caption said he “choose not to take” an individual’s “life the other day and it felt great.”
“Buddy ain’t deserve to go, I step righteously,” DaBaby’s post said. “Heal up and live my boy. Just don’t bring ya a-- back.”
The 911 call-taker refers to the caller as “sir,” but the voices in the audio released by Iredell County Emergency Communications are distorted so it’s unclear whether it’s DaBaby on the line.
“I don’t know what he’s here for. I don’t know what he’s here to do, but he’s shot,” the 911 caller said.
Asked whether the man is hurt and bleeding after being shot, he tells the dispatcher: “I would say yes, bro.” And later adds: “Yeah I can’t hear every question you is asking because he is over here screaming bro, like y’all just get somebody here,” referring to paramedics.
911 call about shooting at DaBaby’s home
The caller told dispatch he’d shot a man on the football field at the house and that the man may have jumped over a fence to get onto the property. “He had to trespass on somebody else’s property to even get to my property,” the caller said.
The exterior of the property is surrounded by a tall concrete wall. An Iredell County building permit also shows five guard stations were built at the house in 2021.
In the 911 call, the dispatcher asked the caller to “secure” his firearm. The caller responds the gun is “secure” but refuses to to put it away completely.
“I’m not putting it down with this trespasser right here on my property,” the caller said. “I’m not doing it. I don’t know who he got with him.”
Only one person was taken to a hospital by Iredell County EMS, Troutman Police said in a news release and post on the agency’s Facebook page.
Three times the call disconnects and the operator is heard in the recording calling back twice, trying to convince the caller to stay on the line. They appear to think the caller hung up intentionally each time.
“Sir I need you to stay on the line with me,” they say.
The caller argues and says they need to get their other phone, open the gate, and ensure there are no additional trespassers on the property. Before the final disconnect of the call, he’s heard telling the 911 dispatcher:
“He’s right here. He’s still good and he’s still breathing. Interrogate me when y’all get here and y’all save this man’s life. And get this man off my property.”
The Observer attempted to contact DaBaby and South Coast Music Group for a comment but did not receive a response Friday.
This story was originally published April 15, 2022 at 11:10 AM.
